Unit' Nagement: Learning Outcome
Unit' Nagement: Learning Outcome
Unit' Nagement: Learning Outcome
NAGEMENT
Structure
2.0 Learning outcome
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Disaster Management
2.3 Disaster Management in India
2.3.1 At the Central Level
2.3.2 At the State Level
2.3.3 At the District Level
2.1 INTRODUCTION
It is evident from the first Unit on Understanding Natural Disasters that India is vulnerable to all
types of natural disasters. These inflict serious damage to life and property of the affected people,
destroy the infrastructure, set-back the development process and upset the budgetary provisions.
It is in this context that Disaster Management assumes cohsiderable importance especially for a
developing country like India, which is high on population density and short on infrastructural and
financial resources. In tbjc Unit, we'will begin with the concept of disaster management and goes
on to discuss the national djsaster management framework, financial arrangements, and role ~f
NGOs, CBOs and media. In the end, we will review and analyse the way the disaster management
system is evolving in India.
26 Understanding Natural Disasters
It wi 11 be seen from the Disaster Management Cycle as depicted in the diagram that it consists of
six broad stages. To begin with, a disaster event occurs and creates the associated disaster
impacts. The duration of the event depends on the type of the hazard. For example, during an
earthquake, ground shaking may occur for seconds, while flooding may take place over a longer
sustained period.
Response and Relief refer to the first stage response to any disaster, which includes setting up
control roorns, putting the contingency plan in action, issuing warning, taking action for evacuation
i.e. taking people to safer areas, and rendering medical aid simultaneously providing food, drinking
water, clothing etc. to the homeless, restoration of communication, anddisbursement of assistance
ill cash or kind.
The recovery stage includes activities that encompass the three overlapping phases of emergency
re1ief, rehabilitation and 1-econstmction.Emergency relief activity such as immediate relief, rescue,
damage assessment, and debris clearance are undertaken during and immediately following a
disaster. Taking pl-ecautionsagainst spread of diseases is also an impo tant activity during this
stage. Rehabilitation includes the provision of camps with temporasy publicutilities and shelter as
interim measures to assist long-term recovery. Reconstruction efforts are made to return
communities to improved pre-disaster functioning, which include repair and reconstruction of
buildings, infrash~lctu~e and lifeline facilities so that long-te~mdevelopment prospects are enhanced.
The next stage of development process is an ongoing activity which has to be resumed. It deals
with long-term prevention/disasterreduction measures. In this regard, construction of embankments
against Illooding, in-igation facilities as drought proofing measures, landuse planning, construction
of houses capable of withstanding the onslaught of future disasters are taken up as part of
development plans.
I Thereafter comes the stage of prevention and mitigation which refer to such preventive actions
d~lringdisaster free period that would lessen the impact if a disaster recurs. Thus, mitigation
ernbraces all measures taken to reduce both the effect of the hazard itself and the vulnerable
conditions of the coxnlnunity in order to reduce the adverse impacts of a future disaster. Lastly, the .
preparedness process embraces measures that enable the government,communityr and individuals
to respond rapidly to disaster situation in order to cope with them effectively. It includes the
f o ~ ~ nation
u l of viableemergency plans,development of warning systems,maintenance of inventoks,
mock drills, and training of personnel.
For effective disaster management, it is essential to have workable action plans at all levels from
colnlnunity level upwards. The aim is to have a tested and tried system in place, which comes into
action at very short notice. This system becomes apowel-ful risk reduction tool. A wide range of
tasks needs to be addressed in the planning sequence for disaster management, and the plan will
need regular checking andupdating.
assigned nodal responsibilities for specific disasters. Detailed organisation is described below.
0ther Committees
The various~ommitteesinvolved in co-ordination for disaster management at the Central and
, State Levels are:
\
e Cabinet Committee @
Disaster Management Authority under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister. Orissaand Gujarat
have their State Disaster Management Authorities and other States would follow. A comprehensive
central legislation on Disaster Management has been approved by the Parliament.
1 State Government I
Chief Secretary
State Crisis
Relief Commissioner
(District)
Magistrate
(Sub-Division) I Sub-Divisional
Magistrate I
I
(Tehsil) Tehsildars
Patwari
2,4 DISASTER
FIINANCZAL A
The financial policy framework for expenditure to provide relief to the victims of natural disasters
is based on the reco~nmendationsof the successive Finance Commissions. For meeting the relief
expenditures,two types of funds are provided by the Goveinmentof India viz., the Calamity Relief
Fund (CRF) and National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF). The CRF is usedfor meeting the
necessary expenditure for providing immediate relief to the victims in cases of cyclone, drought,
earthquake, fire, hailstorm and flood. The atnount of annual contribution to the CRF of each State
is as indicated by the Finance Commission. A total of Rs. 11,007.59 crore was provided for the
CRFfroin 2000-05. Of the total contribution, the Government of Indiacontributes 75 percent of
the total yearly allocation in the form of non-plan grant, and the balance amount is contributed by
the State Governments.
Apart from the C W , a National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) scheme came into force
with effect from 2000-01 and would be operative till the end of the financial year 2004-05. It is
intended to cover calamities such as drought, earthquake, cyclone, fire, hailstom and flood, which
are considered to be of severe nature requiring expenditure by the State Government in excess of
the balance available in its own Calamity Relief Fund. The assistance fsom this fund is used only.for
immediate relief and rehabilitation.
In the context of disaster management, any reconstsuction of assets or restoration of damaged
capital should be financed through re-allocation of Plan Fund. In this regard, the initial corpus of
lhe National Fund is Rs. 500 crore, which is provided by the Government of India. Assistance
provided by the Central Government to the concerned State Government from the National Fund
may be financed by levy of a special surcharge on the centsal taxes for a limited period. Assistance
is also provided from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund according to the merits of the
situiition.
The ~overntnent of India has a long history of using funds from the Five Year Plans for disaster
~iianagement.The funds are availableunderPlanSchemes of Govelnmentof India, say fordlinking
wtltel; employment generation, inputs for agriculture, and flood control measures etc. The schemes
that help in reducing disaster vulnerability are : Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP),Desert
Developlnent Programrne (DDP), Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP), Food
For Work (FEW), Sainpu~nGrameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), Wasteland Development Programme
%
(W RLIn addition, there are facilities, specially for rescheduling of short-term loans taken for
agric tuse purposes upon certification by the District 1State Administration.
Tlie Central Government assets I infrastri~ctureare to be repaired / rectified by the respective
Ministry /Department of'Government of India. In addition, at the occunence of a calamity of great
magnitudefunds flow fsom donors at the national and international level for relief and rehabilitation
and in few cases for long-term preparedness /preventive ineasures also. Funds for the latter
pusposes are also availablefrom multilateral funding agencies like the World Bank. These types of
funds form part of the State Plan.
i~nportantthat this link is maintained effectively at all the three stages of disaster management viz.
pre-disaster, during disaster and post-disaster stage. This function is rendered through different
~nechanismsas per the requirements of a situation such as distributionof relief material, ensuring
sanitation and hygiene, and damage assessment. The various other functions that these organisations
are perfol-ming in disaster management are listed in table 2.2.
The activities mentioned in table 2.2 indicate that the NGOs and CBOs are playing important role
in disaster management specially in assistance and co-ordination. They can contributeeffectively in
colnmunication with local people, iumging man-power, mobilising resources, and providing technjcal
and professional services. In addition,they are the vital link between the Government and Community.
Role of Media in Disaster Management
Media in the fonn of print material, broadcast and display is user friendly. It can reach millions of
people in short-time specially in emergency. Audio-video media transcends the limits of illitesacy
and at the time of disaster helps in mobilising resources and outside help also.
Role of Effective Communications in Disaster Management
Effective and reliable communications are necessary for disaster reduction. In this regard, new
colnmunication technologies play a very significant role because the traditional colnmunication
channels like landline are easily disturbed during djsasters. In this context, the contribution of
amateur radio (HAM) operators in providing emergency communication during disaster situations
has been spontaneous, useful and praiseworthy. Now that India operates its own amateur radio
satellite (HAMSET),this sector of volunteereffort, which hasprovedits worth in disaster situations,
would prove to be even more effective in overall disaster management.
Undrrstundirzg Disaster M~lnugement 33
2.7 CONCLUSION
In this Unit, we have discussed the basic concept of disaster management and the need for
improvement in all related aspects for keeping the human and material sufferings to the minimum.
This Unit highlighted the fact that in order to move towards safer and sustaiilable national
development, disaster preparedness and mitigation aspects should be built in developmentprojects.
Disaster management system in India at the Central, State and District levels, and the financial
arrangements have been explained. The importance of the roles of NGOs, CBOs, Media and
Communications have been described briefly. Finally; a review is made of the existing disaster
management system and it is suggested that a citizens' scrutiny and auditof the Disaster Management
System at all levels will go a long way to make the system more effective and acceptable.
34 U~aderstandingNat~~ral
Disasters
2.10 ACTIVITY
1) Prepare a list of NGOs and CBOs in your area and analyse their activities in disaster
management.
2) What specific remedies would you suggest for evolving a desirablepattern of inter-relationship,
between the various levels of Government andNGOs for better development work in your
area?
3) In your area, what: kind of preparedness and support is needed to strengthen the disaster I
management? Illustrate with suitableexarnples. I
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